INFORMATION & RSVP: https://bit.ly/34DqGBH
Enrolment is free and open to all (free access to the webinar and participation in the live Q&A session).
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Hong Kong Design Institute & Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (HKDI) and Novalis Art Design Gallery, in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute – Hong Kong, are pleased to invite Ms. Martine Bedin, founding member of the Memphis Group, to speak to us about her Memphis memories. She will give us a glimpse behind the scenes of what it was like to be part of the Memphis Group, and a taste of the Memphis spirit.
The Memphis Group was an Italian design movement founded by Ettore Sottsass in 1981 alongside Michele de Lucchi, Aldo Cibic, Matteo Thun, Marco Zanini, Martine Bedin, Nathalie Du Pasquier, and George Sowden. Active between 1981 and 1988, the Memphis Group defined ‘80s aesthetic and greatly revolutionised the design world.
Memphis sought to rebel against the ‘uniform panorama of good taste’ of the time, where the principle ‘form follows function’ reigned supreme. With Memphis, design has been liberated from rationality, and enters the realm of poetry. Form no longer had to follow function. Design could be loud, colourful, whimsical, with clashing patterns. Objects were liberated from function and instead became a visual object rather than just a tool or piece of furniture.
The pieces shown by the Memphis Group and their international collaborators were shocking: mixing elegance and kitsch, playing with absurd and irrational shapes, using plastic laminates with patterns that simulate precious materials, but most of all it introduced the pleasure of play into the rational language of industrial production. More importantly, it expanded the boundaries of design, emphasizing the expressive possibilities of design as a vehicle of communication, rather than just one of utilitarian function.
PROGRAMME
4.30pm: Master Lecture by Martine Bedin
5.15pm: Panel Discussion
Panel members: Martine Bedin, William Figliola – Founder of Novalis Art Design, Michael Chan – Head of Academic Development – HKDI; moderated by Charmaine Tam – Curator of Novalis Art Design.